Martin Dimitrov

Martin Dimitrov (Bulgarian: Мартин Димитров, born 13 April 1977 in Sofia) is a Bulgarian politician and former Member of the European Parliament. He was the leader of the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) from 2008 to 2012.

Elected at 31, he was the youngest-ever leader of UDF, part of the European People's Party–European Democrats. Dimitrov's modernizing views, expertise in the field of economics, and untarnished reputation led to his election with nearly 70% of the vote as party leader in December 2008, despite his relative youth. He was the third party leader during their time in opposition to the tripartite coalition government.

His political and economic public policy views are neo libertarian – he has long been a proponent of a small flat tax of 10% for corporations and payroll alike. He aims for 16% National Insurance contributions from 32.5% now. The difference will be paid by creating a Silver Investment Fund which will be given vast amounts of money from the budget surplus and other economies made by more efficient management of and work force cuts in the public administration. The idea of a fund which will invest the public money is accused of being "public equity company" i.e. the state acting in the manner of private equity companies or/and co-operative investment funds. That, critics say, is as far from libertarianism as it can get.

An outspoken critic of the tripartite government, he spoke out against what he perceived as a lack of transparency involved with the handling of a package of $800 million from the budget surplus voted before the end of the 2008 financial year. “We have become forensic and financial investigators,” Dimitrov said with regard of this amount, “and after months of asking questions, and seeking answers how the money is spent, we are not even nearly there”. As he often mentions it, his hope is that enough young professionals, new faces with unmarred reputation, will decide to join UDF and help in making Bulgaria something more than just a "deep province of Europe".

In 2009 Dimitrov and former prime minister Ivan Kostov, who split the party in 2003 and founded his own party: Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria (DSB), signed a coalition agreement to run together in the upcoming elections that year. Three smaller parties also joined the alliance — the United Agrarians, Bulgarian Social Democratic Party and Radical Democratic Party — bringing the number of parties in the coalition up to five. The new alliance, named the Blue Coalition, won 7.95% of all votes in the European parliamentary elections held in June. The coalition won one seat, but this was adjusted to two seats after the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009.

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